


eternity

by DesertLily



Series: Mechtober [8]
Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band), Ulysses Dies at Dawn - The Mechanisms (Album)
Genre: Dubious Science, Fluff, Immortality, Imprisonment, Mad Science, Mechtober, Multi, Polyamorous Mechanisms (The Mechanisms), Prison, Raphaella is not an ethical scientist, The Mechanisms-Typical Violence, questionable science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27183119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertLily/pseuds/DesertLily
Summary: Immortality has many meanings and Raphaella la Cognizi is eager to learn them all.
Relationships: Ivy Alexandria/Raphaella la Cognizi/Marius von Raum, Raphaella la Cognizi & Lyfrassir Edda, Raphaella la Cognizi/Artemis, Raphaella la Cognizi/Lyfrassir Edda, Raphaella la Cognizi/The Mechanisms Ensemble
Series: Mechtober [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950613
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	eternity

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: I'm Hellenic so this is technically blasphemy! For the 'immortality' prompt for Mechtober. (Though, it's slightly late)

The concept of immortality was always going to be a lie. How could life ever be eternal if the universe itself was finite? Nothing could ever truly last forever. Not even the crew of the starship Aurora. Not that it mattered much to them. Spending millenia alive and dying a billion different ways devoids you of any true fear of death. It stops you worrying about the consequences; of the knife wound that won’t heal or the gunshot to the head you might not come back from. As both an immortal and an immoral scientist, the concept of ever-lasting life fascinated Raphaella la Cognizi. After all, she had somehow given it to herself. But it wasn’t the immortality of the Mechanisms that intrigued her. 

It was the immortality of others. 

See, Mad Science was a language Raphaella spoke well. She understood what it was like to poke and prod and test until some sort of result emerged. But it was the times where immortality was seemingly ingrained into the existence of others that intrigued her. Such as the Olympians on Labyrinth. The ruling class with the ability to both give and take immortality at their own leisure. It was like having her dream experiment gifted to her on a silver platter. Perfect. 

Of course, she  _ had _ needed to find a way to get close enough to the Olympians to experiment further. Unlike Marius, she didn’t want to psychoanalyse her way there. And unlike Ashes, Raphaella had no intentions of becoming an Olympian crime boss (though, she did respect them for it). Though metal wings did mean she didn’t go unnoticed for long. It was Artemis that she caught the attention of. The Huntress had a thing for women she deemed ‘pretty and power’ and really, who was Raphaella to deny her? Besides, it wasn’t as if the Mechanisms were in a particularly closed or monogamous relationship. No one should mind too much and Artemis was  _ very _ pretty. 

That was how she found herself living in relative company amongst the Hunters. They were both protectors of the city and aggressors acting against it - it really just depended on what mood Artemis was in or who she had most recently argued with. Raphaella happily used those they ‘captured’ as test subjects and gifted the Hunters any new or unusual weapons her research had led her to create. It did its job of getting her close to Artemis. 

Her current situation was rather...calming, she supposed. She was laying in bed with Artemis; her head resting in the Huntress’s lap as she twisted braids into her hair. This was Artemis at her calmest. It was the best chance for her to get an answer. Staring up at her lover with half lidded eyes, Raphaella began to speak, “I fear upsetting you, my love, but what is it that gifts you such a long life?” 

Thankfully, Artemis just seemed to laugh. She glanced down at Raphaella with nothing but fondness. “I see a scientist’s mind can only be kept at bay for so long.” She teased fondly. There was not a hint of irritation in her voice. If anything, she seemed amused by what she must have perceived as Raphaella’s naivety. “As long as you’re with me, age will never be an issue for you. You will stay as young and beautiful by my side as you have for so long.” Raphaella chose not to tell Artemis the true reason for her agelessness.

As always, the scientist was not deterred. “Don’t you trust me?” She widened her eyes slightly, blindly reaching for the so-called goddess’s hand. Spend millenia around the scum of the universe and you truly did begin to learn the best ways to get what you wanted. 

Artemis, it seemed, was in a generous mood. “I cannot go revealing all of my secrets. Not even to you.” Raphaella smiled as a soft kiss was pressed to her hair. “But I can tell you this; Our immortality is in part linked to the Acheron. We fuel ourselves using those that have long since passed.” She offered no further explanation. “Now, I heard rumours that that  _ bastard _ d’Ville was seen near your labs. He didn’t try to hurt you, did he?” 

“Of course not.” She smiled softly. Occasionally, Raphaella did forget that Jonny continued to be on a blood-thirsty rampage throughout their city as her girlfriend hunted him down. 

Raphaella would be lying if she said she wasn’t hungry for details but she did not push her love. No, she had  _ some _ fondness for Artemis, after all. But that didn’t stop her turning her attention to minor Olympians; those that no one would notice were even missing. Raphaella was rather  _ proficient _ at the art of dissecting someone by now and finding out just exactly how they ticked. (Well, most people. She hadn’t worked out how Jonny ticked and had absolutely no intentions of doing so). She got a little bit of insight out of her experiments though. It appeared that most ‘Olympians’ had at least some sort of implant in their brain, fuelling them and keeping them going. Probably explained why all the minds in the Acheron were still technically ‘alive’ too. But it wasn’t true immortality. After all, none of her experiments came back from the dead. 

Raphaella never found out what happened to Artemis when they left Labyrinth. She just knew Ashes had left the city alight when they were left. Not that they were surprised. Ashes  _ always _ went out with a bang and a multitude of flames. Besides, they got a good album out of Labyrinth and that was all that mattered. After all, they only went anywhere to play shows and collect stories. 

It was a few more stories and many destroyed planets later that Raphaella at least encountered speculated ‘immortality’ again. Unfortunately, it seemed she had just missed it by the time the Mechanisms came across the Yggdrasil. She was slightly surprised that they all arrived  _ after _ the Bifrost Incident but that just meant there was some underlying story ready to unfold. At least, Raphaella hoped there was as she had once heard someone refer to the Asgardians as ‘practically immortal’. As usual, the Mechanisms did what they always did when they waited for something to happen; they committed unspeakable acts of extreme violence. Their regular brand of fun! 

Unsurprisingly, they all got arrested. But at least Raphaella had the luck of sharing a cell with Marius and Ivy. Out of everyone, they were by the far the ones she didn’t mind being stuck with indefinitely. If only because Ivy was adorable and Marius gave  _ excellent _ hugs. They were also less likely to kill each other at a moment’s notice. She felt sorry for any guards stuck dealing with Jonny or Tim. They were certainly in for an unpleasant surprise. 

The first fifty or so years in prison were positively  _ dreadful _ . Then Lyfrassir Edda was assigned to them and it truly was love at first sight. There was something about the tired and exasperated inspector that seemed to draw all of them in - Marius especially. Maybe it was the stunning braids their white hair was always tied back in or the slight smiles Lyf gave whenever Marius told a particularly terrible joke. Or perhaps even the look of surprise on Lyf’s face when the trio showed  _ actual concern towards them _ . It renewed Raphaella’s interest in immortality. After all, none of them liked the prospect of leaving Lyf behind but they liked the prospect of mechanising them even left. Lyfrassir didn’t deserve to go through that. Not for a second. 

So with a polite smile and a promise to behaviour, Raphaella found herself in possession of both Midgardian science books and Midgardian history books. Unfortunately, they contained very little information that was of use to her. Just notes on how the Asgardians were seen as being  _ almost _ immortal. But they had the ability to live and die along with everyone else. They just aged at a far slower pace. Great. How  _ wonderful _ and positively  _ useless _ .

Then the Ratatosk Express  _ finally _ arrived and they were all ready to take their leave, leaving Lyfrassir behind with great reluctance. Still, there was some beauty in watching as Yggdrasil was consumed in the most intense display of rainbows she had ever seen. Amongst it, she had assumed was Lyfrassir Edda. For the first time in millenia, Raphaella found herself close to mourning. Or at least, she found herself missing them dearly. 

But it seemed the universe had other plans. The lifepod hauled on board had been expected to contain scrap metal and perhaps a quickly-disposable mortal. What it hadn’t been expected to contain was Lyfrassir Edda shrouded in rainbows. They had somehow escaped the Bifrost. Of course, both her and Marius had stepped in when Jonny tried to shoot them point blank. As a few experiments would reveal, the Bifrost had had an interesting impact on the former inspector. 

Raphaella found herself smiling. It seemed her experiment was complete. Finally, another brand of immortality that actually worked. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated or hmu @ desert-lily on tumblr!


End file.
